P l l a y s f f o r r Y o u n g A u d i i e n c e s
A PARTNERSHIP OF S EATTLE C HILDREN ’ S T HEATRE AND C HILDREN ’ S T HEATRE C OMPANY -M INNEAPOLIS
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Evelyn
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Mum
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Dad
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Colin
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Roger
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Mrs. Rachlin
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Reporter
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Photographer
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Editor
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Teacher
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Doctor 1
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Doctor 2
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Careers Officer
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Woman
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Floss, the dog
Doubling is possible- originally performed with five actors.
The play is set in Scotland. The action of the play takes place in various settings, which may be suggested minimally, and non-realistically. The set can be thought of as one large percussive opportunity.
Playing from the Heart , by Charles Way 1

ACT ONE
Darkness. Sound of an orchestra tuning up. Light rises on a young woman in a concert dress:
Evelyn. A single pure note.
EVELYN
I can hear you thinking-
I can hear you thinking-
What’s going on?
What on earth is she about to do-
This girl in a party dress?
This is it, you see.
The moment.
All my life I’ve worked for this moment.
They say I will never be a musician today I will prove them wrong.
This is it.
The orchestra’s ready.
The audience applaud as the conductor walks in his black suit across the stage.
I feel his steps in the wood beneath my feet.
I feel the sound of clapping in the tense air of the concert hall.
I watch the faces of the people, the movement of their hands.
Of course it could all go wrong.
I could lose my way in the great forest of notes.
No! I must concentrate.
I must succeed.
I will succeed.
I am me-
Me is a very determined person.
This is it - the moment.
The conductor raises his baton,
The audience breathe in-
(An intake of air)
- the baton hovers in the air
Holding time
Holding time.
A bead of sweat runs down the conductor’s cheek.
How slowly it falls…
How slowly…
(Sound of heart beat)
But wait!
What’s happening?
What sound is that?
Playing from the Heart , by Charles Way 2

The sound of my heart slowing down… slowing down…
She approaches the conductor who is now frozen in time. She moves around the orchestra, then she hears whispers, voices from her childhood.
EVELYN
Wait! What sound is that?
The sound of my thoughts running back, running back to the place of beginning- the place where my heart learnt its sure rhythm. Home.
Home. Come with me.
It will only take a moment…
The conductor/orchestra ensemble break out of their frozen positions. A movement section follows – transforming them into the characters in Evelyn’s life. She is whisked out of her party dress. She is now eight years old wearing wellies and a duffle coat and a bobble hat.
EVELYN
When I was a child I lived on a farm.
When I was a child
I climbed the grain tower it was ever so high.
Tall as a tower in a fairy story.
When I was a child
I had a red wheelbarrow.
There it is.
When I was a child we had a dog called Floss.
There she is.
When I was eight years old
I climbed to the top of the grain tower…
(sound of wind)
I tried to pull down clouds.
When I was a child
I could hear fields waking up stretching their muddy arms.
I could hear the wind comb the long grass all day.
I could hear the world sigh at four o’clock and the slow breathing of the earth at night.
From the top of the tower
I could see the whole farm and beyond the farm – the fields beyond the fields
Playing from the Heart , by Charles Way 3

the future…
When I was a child
I climbed to the top of the grain tower and was queen of everything I saw…
Mum enters.
MUM
Evelyn.
EVELYN
That’s my mother.
MUM
What are you doing?
EVELYN
I’m fine.
MUM
You’ll be fine down here too on solid ground. Get down! Get down.
EVELYN
But her voice was blown away-
Dad enters with dog.
DAD
What now?
MUM
Evelyn’s climbed to the top of the grain tower.
DAD
It’s not the first time.
Floss the dog follows the father around everywhere – the dog belongs to him.
EVELYN
My father-
MUM
She’s only eight.
DAD
Old enough to climb up, old enough to climb down.
MUM
It’s thirty fee.
DAD
Aye. It’s a tall tower.
EVELYN
Thirty feet up – a girl in the sky. Look Mum! (Mum screams) No hands.
Playing from the Heart , by Charles Way 4

DAD
She’s testing herself.
MUM
She’s testing me.
EVELYN
I’m testing myself.
MUM
Come down now.
DAD
She’ll come down-
MUM
Where are you going?
DAD
I have to fee the pigs.
MUM
Pigs, you care more about the pigs than your daughter up the grain tower.
DAD
That isn’t true.
I care more about you than I care about the pigs, and I care about the pigs a great deal.
MUM
Oh flattered I am.
He grabs her momentarily and they waltz in their work clothes.
EVELYN
My parents – dancing in the yard
Very strange.
I watch them from the grain tower-
My Mother full of fret worrying about the future- her movements quick, busy.
MUM
Go on fee the pigs, before I fall down dizzy.
EVELYN
My Father always walks at the same pace his movements measured, appearing calm…It’s a trick.
He says…
Playing from the Heart , by Charles Way 5

DAD
Patience is a virtue.
Enter two brothers, chasing each other.
DAD
Slow down there.
COLIN
Why?
DAD
Why? Why indeed? Why not?
Father moves away. The boys resume their chase, which develops into a pattern.
EVELYN
Two brothers, chalk and cheese cheese and chalk- different, like low ground and high ground
Like loud and quiet always fighting cat and dog.
DAD
(to Colin and Roger) Stop that!
MUM
Evelyn – get down.
EVELYN
My family.
Evelyn beats out a rhythm on the grain tower – initiating a movement section that is about the family: love, reprimands, patterns of behavior and support. It stops suddenly. Silence. Evelyn comes down.
EVELYN
My ears hurt.
MUM
What kind of hurt?
EVELYN
The kind that hurts.
MUM
I’m not surprised hanging up there in the sky
Playing from the Heart , by Charles Way 6

in a howling wind, letting the whole of Scotland blow right through you.
COLIN
She’s always complaining about her ears-
EVELYN
No I’m not.
COLIN
Are too.
EVELYN
Not.
ROGER
You said your ears hurt yesterday.
COLIN
After riding your bike.
ROGER
In the cold.
COLIN
And after swimming.
EVELYN
They just hurt, that’s all.
COLIN
You’re going deaf.
EVELYN
No, I’m not.
COLIN
Are too.
EVELYN
Stop saying that.
COLIN
Sometimes I speak to you and you don’t hear a word I say.
EVELYN
That’s cos all you say is – ‘Are too! Are too!’
COLIN
No, I don’t.
Playing from the Heart , by Charles Way 7

EVELYN
Do too! Do too!
MUM
Stop!
EVELYN
I’m not going deaf, am I Mum?
MUM
Course not – just got sore ears, that’s all. But stay out of the cold wind and don’t dive down deep in the swimming pool.
EVELYN
Ooooh. (in disappointment)
DAD
Hush now…Hush – feel that?
MUM
What?
DAD
That.
MUM
That what?
DAD
Something’s coming.
MUM
What’s coming?
DAD
Wait…there…it’s arrived.
MUM
What?
DAD
The summer… (lights change)
I can feel it in my bones smell it on the breeze.
Besides it says so in the paper-
Today is the first day of summer – official.
He exits. The youngsters stand perplexed.
MUM
Stop arguing.
Playing from the Heart , by Charles Way 8

ROGER
We’re not arguing.
MUM
You think I can’t tell an argument when I hear one? Silent or not.
She exits. The summer light gets stronger.
COLIN
I love the summer.
ROGER
We could put a tent up.
COLIN
Yeah, spend the night in the garden.
EVELYN
And me.
ROGER
You’re too young.
EVELYN
No I’m not.
ROGER
You’re afraid of the dark.
EVELYN
That’s a secret.
COLIN
Not anymore.
EVELYN
Stop it.
ROGER
What?
EVELYN
Teasing.
ROGER/COLIN
Tarenzeening.
EVELYN
Please?
COLIN
No.
Playing from the Heart , by Charles Way 9

EVELYN
I’ll tell on you.
COLIN
Tell what?
ROGER
There’s nothing to tell.
EVELYN
I’ll make it up.
ROGER
You wouldn’t dare.
EVELYN
I always dare.
Silence.
ROGER
Alright.
They set up the tent – this action demonstrates their rivalry and affection – it’s comical and musical. Roger is the practical one, Colin more of a dreamer. Night falls.
EVELYN
I love my brothers.
I hate my brothers.
I love my brothers.
In the tent: Roger is making a lego plane, Colin is reading.
COLIN
I’m going to be an astronaut.
EVELYN
When?
COLIN
When I’m grown up, like the man in this book. He goes to different planets.
EVELYN
What for?
COLIN
To see what’s there.
ROGER
I’m going to be a farmer, like dad. What are you going to do Ev?
EVELYN
Don’t know…
Playing from the Heart , by Charles Way 10

She decides to beat a toy drum.
COLIN
Shh!
EVELYN
Why shh?
COLIN
I’m trying to read.
EVELYN
Try harder. (She plays on)
ROGER
Shh.
EVELYN
Why shh?
ROGER
I can’t hear myself think.
EVELYN
Think louder. (She plays on)
COLIN/ROGER
Shh!
She plays louder. Colin storms off, comes back with a trombone. He creeps behind Evelyn and blows it in her ear. She screams. Roger falls about laughing. Evelyn hits him. Colin hides the drum.
EVELYN
Where is it?
COLIN
Where’s what?
EVELYN
My drum.
COLIN
I never saw a drum. Did you see a drum?
ROGER
Well it was – no, no.
EVELYN
(picks up the plane) Did you ever see a plane with one wing?
Playing from the Heart , by Charles Way 11

ROGER
You wouldn’t dare.
She snaps off the wing. She picks up Colin’s book and is about to rip it in two. Colin swiftly gives the drum back.
EVELYN
I’m going to be a musician.
ROGER
You broke my plane. (He hits her with a pillow.)
EVELYN
You stole my drum.
ROGER
He stole your drum.
It’s not my fault she broke your stupid plane.
COLIN
ROGER
It’s not stupid.
COLIN
It is now – it’s only got one wing.
(A pillow fight develops between the two brothers. Enter Mum with a rolled up newspaper.)
MUM
Stop! Stop! You will stop that now.
(They continue. Evelyn stands by in an innocent pose.)
Stop!
(She starts to chase them with the rolled up newspaper. Dad enters with the dog, barking – chaos.)
COLIN
She started it.
EVELYN
I never did.
ROGER
She did! She did!
EVELYN
I hate my brothers
I love my brothers
I hate my brothers.
The scene changes, folds into a new section. Evelyn gets on her bicycle
Playing from the Heart , by Charles Way 12